Glen--

        Forget the Courant! I write for the other, hipper paper...and I
wasn't
suggesting that Baker should have been chosen over Pryor; that was merely my
own preference, since he gave the first Twain lecture at the house 8 or 10
years ago and was extraordinary. And choosing Pryor does make ratings sense,
because those 18-to-35 year-olds are far more likely to have heard of him
than
Baker. The proliferation of comics these days who almost never fail to
mention
Pryor's influence on them makes that possible.
        Those who wish to begin the Jones groundswell (and yes, I forgot all
about "A
Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court" as an example of Twain faithfully
and lovingly translated to film) should check out www.chuckjones.com.
        On a Twain note, did anyone see today's Think Tank column in the NY
Times?
It's on a massive encyclopedia of the West that's just come out, and one of
the items within was that Isaiah Sellers, a pilot from New Orleans, was the
first to sign himself "Mark Twain." Very interesting.

Kathy O'Connell
Hartford Advocate